'Sweet little angels' slain in Barrie

The Globe and Mail, ARMINA LIGAYA and TIMOTHY APPLEBY, October 5, 2006

BARRIE, TORONTO -- They were sisters, one and three years old. Neighbours say they always seemed happy, well cared for and well dressed. And early yesterday morning they were killed, and their mother is charged with murder.

A Barrie woman, said to be embroiled in a bitter custody battle, appears in court this morning after a double slaying that a seasoned investigator described as "traumatic for the whole community."

The shock waves were being felt last night south of Barrie in Woodbridge, at the family home of her estranged husband, Leonardo Campione, father of the dead girls.

No family member would comment, but Maria Frangic, a neighbour who went inside the Woodbridge home last night, said: "They are all sad. They can't even talk."

The first signal of the tragedy inside the fourth-floor apartment of a north-end Barrie public-housing complex came at about 6:15 a.m. when a caller believed to be the mother phoned 911 in distress.

Officers arrived shortly after and discovered the bodies of Serena and Sophia Campione. They were pronounced dead at the scene.

Their mother, 31-year-old Frances Elaine Campione, was taken by police to a nearby hospital, and then to Barrie Police Service headquarters, where she was charged with two counts of first-degree murder.

Police have not disclosed how the girls died. Autopsies will be held today in Toronto.

The early morning discovery left neighbours in shock, as they described a single mother who had lived in the well-kept building for about a year and appeared to lavish every care and affection on her daughters.

"They were always dressed in princess dresses," third-floor resident Cathie Morgan, 50, said of the slain sisters. "They were sweet little girls."

Another resident described them as "beautiful -- two sweet little angels."

Amanda Walton met Ms. Campione through a play group where her younger son, Desmond, took a shine to three-year-old Serena.

"They were always happy," Ms. Walton said. "The oldest one, Serena, was going to 'marry' my son. She always called him her little prince, he always called her his princess."

Ms. Walton said that the girls were "always well dressed," but that Ms. Campione worried about the future.

"I know she was going through a lot with her ex, and custody."

Sharon Lynn, Ms. Walton's mother, also described Ms. Campione as "a wonderful mother" but said too she was "a woman who was tormented -- nobody saw the signs."

Ms. Campione has no other children and was estranged from the girls' father, neighbours said.

One neighbour of Mr. Campione's parents in Woodbridge, Carl McIntosh, said the children stayed for several months at their grandparents' home.

He said that less than a year ago, Ms. Campione arrived with the police and child services and took away the girls.

An unconfirmed report said Ms. Campione had been due to appear in divorce court today.

Adjoining the large Bayfield Mall, the apartment building on Coulter Street where Ms. Campione lived with her children is operated by the Barrie Municipal Non-Profit Corp. and provides both geared-to-income housing and apartments rented at full-market rates.

The twin homicides at the 13-storey building were the second and third of the year in Barrie, a fast-growing community of more than 175,000 people, an hour's drive north of Toronto. Last year, the city recorded two.

Barrie Mayor Robert Hamilton did not return a call seeking comment on the tragedy, which police said was unprecedented in the city in recent memory.

"The deaths of a one- and three-year-old is traumatic for the whole community," Inspector Jim Farrell of Barrie Police Service told reporters. "It's a sad day for the city of Barrie."

"It's just a senseless situation, where two children were the victims of homicide," Sergeant Dave Goodbrand said.

"It definitely will affect the public.

"Barrie doesn't see too many homicides in a year. In fact, for many years we've gone stretches without a homicide. But to make it two children touches the hearts of everybody."

Insp. Farrell refused to comment on reports that local children's aid society workers had visited Ms. Campione twice recently.

Police are expected to spend several days examining the family's apartment.

Ms. Campione was scheduled to appear in a Barrie courtroom this morning.

First-degree murder implies premeditation and carries an automatic penalty of life imprisonment, with little chance of parole for 25 years.